


Maybe

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, future Auradon Kids, future Uma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2018-12-26 08:12:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12054891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: It was just supposed to be keeping an eye on the new girl.  It wasn't supposed to be falling for the new girl.  Growing close to the new girl.  Pushing her away.  Breaking her heart.  ...No, it wasn't supposed to be any of that.





	1. Gang Activity

**Author's Note:**

> a request from @wellthenjustfuckoff on tumblr

"...And why in the name of all that's unholy would you think I'd do that?"  the scowl crossing Mal's face was vicious, an echo of her mother's.

Carlos instinctively shrank back, defending himself in that split second by believing it was less from the scowl and more from the swiped pocket knife Mal was armed with.  As for Mal, she was equal parts irritated that Carlos had interrupted her vandalization of the lamppost and irritated that he'd really made her listen to that asinine suggestion with her own two ears.  
  
"Okay, Mal, for starters, you owe her," Carlos said firmly, squaring himself up.  
  
"I  _owe_  her?  Carlos, I'm flattered that you think I'm my mother, but I am not the one who banished Evie to her castle for a decade, I don't owe her jack shit."

Mal rammed the pocket knife into the wood of the post in a dramatic gesture, turning to fully face Carlos when he spoke.  
  
"She's just now coming out of the castle, she knows nothing about The Isle.  She doesn't have any friends, Mal."  
  
"Boo hoo," Mal yanked the pocket knife free. She'd only stolen it because it was purple.  
  
Carlos' mouth settled into a pout.  
  
"Where would you be if you didn't have Jay?" he demanded.  
  
To Mal's chagrin, she didn't have a retort to that.  
  
"If Evie's going to make it out on The Isle, she'll need a partner in crime," Carlos went on.  
  
Eyes of green narrowed dangerously.  
  
"Except your version of a partner in crime sounds an awful lot like me dating a shut-in."  
  
"Just help her learn the ins and outs.  No one better to teach her than you.  She doesn't deserve to be stuck here lost and alone, after ten years trapped with the Evil Queen she still ended up pretty nice."  
  
"I don't have time for nice," Mal snapped.  "If you don't want to end up lost and alone on The Isle then you need to be rotten and ruthless, not some flower-picking princess."  
  
"Alright, then show her how to be rotten and ruthless," Carlos shrugged.  "And hey, you owe  _me_ , too.  All the times I let you use my place for your little hazing parties?"  
  
"You didn't let me, I made you," Mal cooly corrected.  
  
"Exactly.  And each and every time you had me staring down the barrel of an extra-long night with my mother's bear traps if I ever got caught."   
  
Mal didn't have anything to say to that, either.  Her fingers curled around the knife, thumb gliding riskily back and forth over the serrated edge of the blade.  
  
"...Fine," she said through gritted teeth.  "But only for a week.  After that she's on her own."  
  
"Mal, c'mon, that's not enough time for her to—"  
  
"Only.  For.  A week.  And then she's on her own."  
  
Carlos sighed, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.  
  
"Okay," he conceded.  "I'll talk to Evie about it at school on Monday."  
  
"You do that," Mal suddenly became disinterested in the conversation, turning her back on Carlos to start scrawling a messy "Long Live Evil" into the lamppost with the tip of the blade.  
  
Carlos left without another word, the only sign of his departure being the scuffing of his shoes against the pavement.  Seconds later, suddenly there was Jay, hanging upside down from the rain gutters on the little shack beside Mal.  
  
"So.  You're going on a date with the princess," he said.  Mal didn't even have to look to know the shit-eating grin was fixed firmly to his face.  
  
"It's not a date.  It's paying a debt to Carlos," finished with her last letter, she carelessly chucked the pocket knife over her shoulder.  
  
Jay flipped himself onto the ground, landing with a heavy thud.  
  
"And why would you do that?" he asked, retrieving the knife and shoving it into his vest for later.  "You're rotten.  You don't repay favors, it's eat or be eaten."  
  
"Even villains have a code."  
  
"Pirates. You're thinking of pirates."  
  
"Whatever, just as long as it gets the two of them to shut up and stay out of my hair."  
  
Mal started walking, and Jay followed, easily matching her strides.  
  
"You have to admit, she's pretty hot," he said.  
  
"It's not a date!  It's babysitting the new girl!" Mal yelled.  
  
"You gonna bring flowers?"  
  
"Yeah, to your grave."

* * *

 

Mal slammed the rusty door of her locker shut, whirling around after she did so.

"I will fight you," she growled.  
  
Jay just shrugged, unfazed.  
  
"Look, you're showing her the sights, getting to know her, letting her get to know you.  This is a date," he said.  
  
"It's not a damn date!"  
  
Jay held up his hands as if in surrender, but the smirk on his lips showed he knew he was right.  
  
"Mal."  
  
The two kids turned around to find Carlos and Evie, waiting behind them in the dimly lit hallway.  Evie stood a little behind Carlos, clutching her worn and weathered Advanced Vanities textbook to her chest.  
  
"...Hi Mal," she said in timid greeting.  
  
Mal couldn't stop an annoyed sigh from escaping.  
  
"Hey," she wouldn't look at Evie, watching instead as the other Dragon Hall students shuffled around to and from their lockers as they headed home.  
  
"...I, um, just have to drop this book off at my locker and then I'm ready to go," Evie said.  
  
Mal didn't say anything, until she caught Carlos eyeing her urgently, jerking his head just the tiniest, most minuscule centimeter at Evie.  Maleficent's daughter looked like she would punch a wall.  
  
"...I'll walk with you," getting the words to come out was like pulling teeth.  
  
"You don't have to—"  
  
"I said I'll go."  
  
Mal stormed off ahead, not even stopping to care that she didn't know where Evie's locker was.  But the princess padded after her, taking the lead and disappearing around the corner with Mal.  Jay moved beside Carlos with one wide step and leaned over.  
  
"This was your idea?" he snickered.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
Mal had expected Evie to stride off down the corridor, what with those long legs of hers, but instead she ambled slowly, as if she wanted Mal to keep up with her.  
  
"So I'm excited to see The Isle," Evie suddenly said, her smile eager and bright and showing no sign of being forced even though it definitely was.  
  
"You shouldn't be," Mal scoffed, rolling her eyes.  "This place is a floating garbage dump."  
  
"...Well, even still, it'll be nice to finally see something besides the inside of the castle."  
  
Mal was not in the mood for guilt trips, drawing to a stop when Evie did and resting a foot on the row of lockers when she leaned back against them.  Evie twirled the dial once, twice, three times, and then opened her locker.  
  
"Choosing this hell hole over a castle?  What's wrong with  _you_?"   
  
Evie slipped her textbook inside, keeping her eyes on the dark of her locker as she did so.  
  
"My mother's castle isn't what it used to be," she quietly said.  "It seems like things don't really get a lot of upkeep on The Isle."  
  
"Hence my whole 'floating garbage dump' thing."  
  
Walking again, they weaved their way around the others in the crowded hall (well, Evie weaved, Mal shoved and/or barreled her way straight through) until they had left the school, stepping outside into a murky and overcast afternoon.  
  
"So, where to?" Evie asked, adjusting her purse on her shoulder.  
  
Mal only shrugged, shoving a gloved hand into a pocket.  
  
"Darned if I know.  There's nothing to see here."  
  
"...Well, where do you and Carlos hang out?"  
  
"Carlos and I aren't friends."  
  
"Then where do you and Jay hang out?"  
  
"Jay and I don't hang out, we scheme."  
  
Evie's pretty face slowly melted into a frown, a disappointed pout tugging at her lower lip. Mal saw, saw how she drew inwards timidly, clearly not comfortable being there with her.  
  
"...I guess there's the Slop Shop," Mal sighed heavily.  "Terrible food, black coffee."  
  
The tiniest of sparks in Evie's eyes.  
  
"Can we go there?"  
  
"If you have some weird shut-in princess thing for terrible food and black coffee, sure."  
  
Now it was Mal leading the way, past the school's graveyard and out onto the uneven, cracked streets of The Isle.  It was silence they walked in, silence save for the occasional hollers and gasps of people spotting Mal in the distance and performing extreme acrobatic feats to scurry out of her path.  Evie clung tightly to the strap of her purse, alternating between looking off to the side, risking a glance at Mal, and keeping her eyes ducked down entirely.  
  
"...Why did you agree to take me out?" Evie wondered, making that risky glance at Maleficent's daughter.  
  
Mal didn't even look back at her, very preoccupied with the dirty can she was kicking along.  
  
"It's just a favor to Carlos," she answered.  
  
"Oh, that makes sense.  I really couldn't figure out why you'd say yes. You don't seem to like me very much."  
  
"I'm a villain, I don't like anyone."  
  
"But me especially," Evie emphasized.  "And I think you and I both know why."  
  
Mal rolled her eyes.  
  
"Enlighten me," she said boredly, already tired of conversation with this girl just nine sentences later.  
  
"Mal, it wasn't me who didn't want you at my sixth birthday party, and I'm—"  
  
Mal whirled around, jabbing one finger in Evie's direction as a warning not to say anything else.  
  
" _Don't_ apologize," she warned, eyes hardening.  "I don't need it, and I don't want it."  
  
"Mal, I just—"  
  
"Nope.  Nuh uh," Mal turned her head in a very stuck up cat-like manner that would make even Lady Tremaine's Lucifer jealous.  "I don't want to hear it."  
  
She looked back at Evie in time to see eyes glittering suspiciously, as if on the verge of tears.  The noise Mal made then was a unique mixture of a sigh and a growl.  She kicked the tin can off into a pod of grubby little boys, whacking one on the back of the head.  
  
"Alright, listen," she lowered her hand like the crack of a whip.  "You've been in a castle all your life, you have no idea what it's like out here.  Five minutes on your own and you'd be dangling on a hook and fed to the crocodiles.  Luckily for you, you're palling around with Carlos, and luckily for you, he wants me to show you the ropes."  
  
"...To show me how to be more like you," Evie guessed.  
  
"Pfft, like that's gonna happen," Mal laughed to herself.  "But if you want to last on The Isle then you have to learn how to be rotten."  
  
Evie held her head up regally, showing off a haughty smile.  
  
"I'm the Evil Queen's daughter.  I think I'm plenty rotten already."  
  
Mal crooked a finger at Evie, inviting her closer, and closer she came.  
  
"Let me tell you something.  Everybody's got a wicked side.  Even a Little Miss Mirror Mirror like you.  You just haven't found it yet."  
  
Evie tilted her head to the side.  
  
"I haven't?"  
  
Mal gave the girl's shoulder a rough shove, making her stumble backwards with the slightest flash of betrayal crossing her features for a split second.  
  
"Lesson one: you need to drag your feet."  
  
Mal demonstrated, scuffing off down the road, going backwards so as to keep an eye on Evie.  
  
"These are my good heels," Evie protested.  
  
The glare from Mal was admittedly enough to shut down her protest and follow along, shoes dragging along the street every step of the way.  
  
"I don't see how this will make me nasty and evil," she mentioned.  
  
Mal ignored her.  
  
"Lesson two: nod your head."  
  
She nodded a hard, menacing jerk to the merchant in the stall they were just now passing, making him jump backwards so far he crashed into the trash cans behind him.  Evie did the same to the merchant the next stall down, but it only garnered her a mild startle.  Mal shook her head, gave another eye roll.  
  
"Would've worked a lot better if you weren't so damn pretty," she mocked.  
  
She moved right along, Evie tailing her every step.  She daintily strutted after Mal before remembering that she needed to "drag her feet", and anyone watching the transition from princess to wannabe delinquent would've gotten a good laugh if Mal hadn't have been right there frightening off all forms of merriment.  
  
The stalls dissolved into a street of crooked, crumbling buildings all in a row.  
  
"Lesson three," Mal began.  
  
Her hand closed around Evie's arm and she tugged her against the front face of one of the buildings, with its uneven, jutting bricks.  
  
"You need to lean back."  
  
Mal again demonstrated, resting against the jutting stony face and crossing her arms.  Evie—although very concerned with all the dirt and grime that was going to get on the back of her shirt—had a go at it.  Mal checked her over, then grabbed her again and took off down a nearby alleyway, dark, grungy, and narrow.  
  
"Lesson four: slip through the cracks," she said, looking Evie dead in the eyes.  
  
Evie shook her head, a small giggle spilling loose.  
  
"Really, how is this going to make me rotten and nasty?" she wondered.  
  
"It won't.  It'll make you cool. And when you're cool, you can break the rules."  
  
"Who taught you all this?" Evie laughed again, not believing it.  
  
"Life on The Isle.  This is the only way to get through it in one piece.  It's not all grand galleries and spiffy ballrooms out here, Evie," Mal said firmly.  
  
"...Okay.  So teach me more," Evie insisted.  Her discomfort around Mal was slowly melting into something slightly more tolerable.  
  
"...Uh, you need to not stare," Mal said, ducking out of Evie's watchful gaze and going on down the remaining length of the alley.  
  
Back out into the street they went, more crowded on this side than it was on the other side of the alley.  
  
"Next lesson?" Evie prodded.  
  
"Watch your back."  
  
Mal's eyes cut like a jade knife as she took good long looks at everyone around her, passersby and all.  Her, the islanders knew not to mess with.  Evie, not so much.  
  
"And you, creep around," Mal added.  
  
"What?  Mal, I don't creep."  
  
"You do now.  When word really gets out that the Evil Queen has let you loose, it's only a matter of time before someone storms in ready to push you around. You  _definitely_  need to watch your back."  
  
"But I'm her  _daughter_.  The daughter of the  _Evil Queen_.  I'm a villain kid."  
  
"You're a princess who just got out of exile.  No one's afraid of you, Evie."  
  
"...Maybe  _you_  aren't afraid of me, but that doesn't mean everyone else..."  
  
Evie trailed off, her attention diverted to what was yet another stall, another person doing anything and everything to make some version of a living on The Isle.  Unraveling baskets of apples, some browning and shriveled, some perfectly fine, were right there, and Evie reached for her purse.  When Mal heard the jingling of change, she grabbed Evie's hand before she could get inside.  
  
"If you want it, take it," Mal told her.  "And if you can't take it, break it."  
  
Evie's eyes widened, and unlike Mal, she lowered her voice.  
  
"Mal, that's stealing," she whispered.  
  
"And your mother tried to kill a tween," Mal rolled her eyes.  "Seriously, you need to  _not_  be yourself."  
  
Not even attempting to be sly or subtle, Mal straight up snatched an apple from the stand and kicked the legs out from under it, spilling bushel upon bushel out onto the street.  
  
"Scatter!" Mal called out as the pissed-off vendor came lunging.  
  
They were right beside each other as they ran, not even sure if they were being chased or not.  They just heard the commotion rising behind them and made the decision not to stop and check.  A good ways away, Mal made a running jump at a pile of barrels and crates, boosting herself up high enough to get at the escape ladder leading up the side of a building and shimmying to the roof.  All the way up to the top, before peeking back over the edge and offering her hand to the still-climbing princess.  She pulled her up, where the two fell back and dissolved into identical fits of laughter.  
  
"Okay, that was exciting," Evie admitted in between giggles.  
  
Mal chuckled, tossing the apple over to her.  
  
"Dig in."  
  
Evie turned the apple around in her hands for a second, smiling.  
  
"Thanks for not grabbing a rotten one.  Some might say that was actually nice."  
  
"No one in their right mind would say that about me."  
  
Mal swiveled around, sitting back and taking in the sprawling view of the island, which was actually pretty decent from up where they were (as decent as a city of grime and decay could be, at least).  Evie took notice too, crawling over to sit beside Mal.  
  
"So that's it, huh?" she asked, biting into her apple.  
  
"Yeah.  That's  _it_ ," Mal grimly emphasized, drawing her knees up.  "Trust me, you had it better stuck in the castle."  
  
"Oh sure, wandering the same five halls and getting rations from vultures."  
  
"But at least ignorance was bliss, yeah?"  
  
Evie frowned.  
  
"Ignorance was ignorance."  
  
Mal said nothing to that, sitting in silence as Evie ate her apple.  From up there, a slight breeze weaved its way through Mal's hair and created the perfect setting for her to just sit and be lost in her thoughts.  It wasn't until a couple minutes later when Evie stood up that Mal came back to the real world.  Evie turned around on the rooftop, facing the complete opposite direction, and Mal exhibited no surprise at what she was doing—looking out over Auradon.  And knowing that no matter how within reach it appeared, they were stuck underneath a magical barrier, locked in with no way out.  
  
"...You know, as much as you don't like me, there really isn't much difference between us.  I was just trapped on the inside, and you were trapped on the outside," Evie said.  
  
"No, the difference is that I'm a villain and you're a goody two-shoes."  
  
Evie smoothly sauntered over to the edge of the roof, eyeing the street below.  Without batting a perfect fluttering eyelash, she reared her arm back and hurled her apple core down into the crowd, beaning someone in the head with it and cooly turning around as their surprised shout sounded.  
  
"I'm a fast learner," she said with a triumphant smirk.  
  
Mal was alight with a genuinely impressed grin.  
  
"Well, look at you go.  Stick with me and you'll be chillin' like a villain in no time."  
  
Evie went back over to Mal, crouching down in front of her.  
  
"Speaking of sticking with you, you still owe me a date at the Slop Shop," she said, her shadowed eyes glittering.  
  
"It's not a date," Mal petulantly insisted.  
  
"Even still, you owe me."  
  
"You know, people keep saying that, but I'm not seeing it."  
  
Evie smiled, a playful, teasing thing, yet warm and full of light.  
  
"You will." 


	2. Like a Villain

"Mal!" Jay raised a hand high into the air and waved, catching Mal's attention down the hall.  
  
Mal shoved her way along the corridor, roughly edging past every other kid heading for their lockers to put their things up and leave Dragon Hall for the day. The end of school was rough going for everyone but Mal, who could always cut through the crowd like a knife. She joined Jay, who had Carlos at his side, and gave them both sharp nods.  
  
"Let's get a move-on, we're chilling at the hideout," Jay said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.  
  
"Not today. I'm out," Mal shook her head.  
  
Carlos frowned.  
  
"You're not coming with?"  
  
"I'm taking Evie to the Slop Shop," she told them.  
  
"Again??" Jay questioned.  
  
Carlos' frown deepened.  
  
"That's like, every day now."   
  
Mal scoffed at him, turning to her locker, situated right beside Jay's and fiddling with the dial.  
  
"Not  _every_ day," she denied. "Evie just likes it there, color me surprised.”  
  
Jay's features brought forth an evil grin.  
  
"And since when do you take time out of your day to care about what other people like?"  
  
It began to dawn on Carlos too.  
  
"Hey, yesterday made one week," he realized.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Mal snapped, pausing in her locker organizing to glare at him.  
  
"You said you'd only show Evie around for the week. Well, Monday was the week."  
  
"Your point?"  
  
"The point is you're still hanging out with the princess," Jay leaned his arm on Mal's shoulder, smirking all the way. "And doing what she wants."  
  
"I am not doing what she wants!"  
  
"She wants to go to the Slop Shop," Carlos pointed out.  
  
"And I just happen to be agreeing to take her!" Mal argued, stepping away from Jay and letting his arm fall.  
  
"Sure, Mal," Jay nudged Carlos with his elbow, and the two of them fell into a fit of snickering.

"What's so funny?" Evie approached them, drawing to a stop beside Mal.  
  
The boys somewhat stifled their laughter with the most vicious of vicious scowls from Maleficent's daughter.  
  
"Nothing," Mal answered for them, letting a scowl linger for just a second longer before looking towards Evie. "You ready?"   
  
She took note of Evie's lack of textbooks, and Evie nodded.  
  
Mal led the way without anything resembling a goodbye to the boys, and after a friendly wave at them, Evie followed.  
  
"What was the nasty look about?" she asked Mal, smiling as they walked. "They give you a hard time about our date?"  
  
"These aren't dates," one week later, Mal was still denying it.  
  
No one was fooled. Deep,  _deep_  down, not even Mal herself. Sitting across from Evie in the Slop Shop, marveling at how the girl could make a day of black coffee and stale, crummy pastries, Mal couldn't help but notice how the narrowed and judgmental gaze she started out watching Evie through had turned into a softer and more curious one as the days went on.   
  
"...What is it with you and this place?" Mal asked, still keeping her watchful eyes on Evie.  
  
"...I don't know. Anything to stay out of the castle, I guess," Evie shrugged.  
  
"Know that feeling," Mal muttered, thinking in particular of the hideout and how she and the boys had put it together to serve as a home away from hell.  
  
"Mal?"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
Evie turned her coffee cup around and around on the table, keeping her hands busy.  
  
"Do you ever think about Auradon?" she asked.  
  
"Sure, I think about it. I think all the goody two-shoes gathered in one place sounds like a literal hell if I've ever heard one."  
  
"You don't think about what it's like to have warm, fresh food?  Flowers and their wonderful scents lining the streets instead of trash? Actual sunlight? Actual stars??"  
  
"E, come on. That world isn't for us," Mal said. "We're villains, we're mean and nasty and tough, we don't need that soft, sissy life."  
  
Evie's smile was sad as she looked down at her hands.  
  
"...No, I guess we don't."  
  
Mal was affected by that sad smile far more than she wanted to admit.  
  
"Okay, I know The Isle isn't the most inspiring place to see after a decade of banishment, but still, it's our home."  
  
Evie picked at a particularly rubbery bit of the muffin in front of her.  
  
"Maybe you can show me more of it," she suggested.  
  
Mal smiled.  
  
"I would've earlier, but seeing as you liked it here so damn much..." she chuckled.  
  
Evie copied the amused noise, ducking her head down shyly, hair falling into her face. Wow, that was a sight.  
  
"The boys and I spend a lot of time at the goblin wharf. It's the farthest thing from top shelf but it's...it's nice, being by the sea," Mal offered. "And that's coming from the girl who can't swim."  
  
Evie wore a wry smile that was somehow both teasing and innocent.  
  
"You put a day at the seaside on the table and still insist that these get-togethers aren't dates?" she joked.  
  
Mal didn't answer. She drummed her fingers distractedly on the table, watching with her soft and curious gaze as Evie laughed easily to herself and glanced away, not pushing the matter any further.  
  
"...This Friday. Six 'o clock. Will you go out with me?" Mal felt like she'd end up muttering but the question rang clear and strong.  
  
Evie's eyes sparkled as a beaming smile teased and tugged at her lips.  _Wow_ , that was a sight.  
  
"I'd love to, M."

 

* * *

 

 

Mal didn't think Evie was capable of being any more stunning, but meeting her just a short walk down from the Evil Queen's castle with her perfect hair spiraling past her shoulders and her perfect makeup highlighting her smile, Mal was handily proven wrong.  
  
"...Hi," she cursed herself a little for her greeting coming out so breathless.  
  
"Hi," Evie greeted back, her hello vibrant and full of life. She came to a stop along the edge of the street and gave a little twirl. "Do you like?"  
  
Mal eyed the ruffled dress, a nice deep blue with a little black sash around the middle.  
  
"Did you make that?" she asked.  
  
"I did."  
  
"Wow, E. That's amazing. I like it."  
  
Evie curtsied playfully, and after a quick and cursory fight against her better judgement, Mal offered her hand to Evie. The princess was visibly taken by surprise, but only for a moment, and then she and Mal were hand-in-hand, walking the Isle streets on their way to the docks. Mal had been absolutely right, a dingy wharf overrun by goblins was far from top shelf, but this close to the edge of the magical barrier, the sunset later on shone crystal clear, coloring the surface of the water with mesmerizing oranges and reds.  
  
"Have you ever drawn this?" Evie asked, sitting at the edge of a dock and admiring the scene with Mal at her side.  
  
"Thought about it once. Didn't make it down here in time. Mom...mom wasn't up for me leaving the house that day."  
  
"Kind of her thing, isn't it?" Evie joked.  
  
"...I'm sorry, E. I'm sorry my mother did that to you and your mom."  
  
Evie kept the mood light, leaning over and bumping Mal with her shoulder.  
  
"Villains don't apologize. You're supposed to be teaching me to be more like you, remember? That's why Carlos set this whole thing up in the first place."  
  
"I wanted to strangle Carlos for setting this whole thing up."  
  
"But that aside, you're meant to help me survive here on The Isle."  
  
"Just stick with me and the boys, we'll keep an eye on you," Mal said.  
  
"Are you gonna tell them we're dating?" Evie giggled.  
  
"This is one date, one date doesn't equal dating."  
  
"You're just going to keep denying this, aren't you?"  
  
"With every fiber of my being," Mal promised. "If mom found out I was dating—that I went on a date with you? Hoo boy."  
  
"Maleficent's forgotten all about me by now, don't worry. But, you know...this is actually my first date."  
  
Evie went wonderfully pink in the cheeks.  
  
"Mine too," Mal avoided a blush. "How am I doing?"  
  
"Pretty great."  
  
She may have avoided a blush, but she all but melted at Evie's words. Man, she needed to like, punch a wall or something. Get some of her toughness back.  
  
The sun eventually dipped and disappeared below the horizon, leaving the sky bathed in black. Just black. Evie sighed.  
  
"...What?" Mal questioned, looking her over.  
  
"Hm? ...Oh. It's nothing, M."  
  
But Mal suddenly realized, realized just how intently Evie had been watching the night sky as the sun disappeared, almost seeming like she would strain her eyes peering into it. Mal stood up, stretching out her legs.  
  
"Come on," she said.  
  
Evie stared up at her, confused.  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"To finish out our date. Come on," Mal repeated.  
  
Still confused, Evie nonetheless followed along as Mal led the way on the walk from the wharf, back through the center of The Isle and then down a grungy alleyway. When Mal stopped, she picked up a little stone from a pile sitting atop a nearby stray table, rearing back and hurling it at a high-up sign reading "Danger: Flying Rocks". Evie looked on in awe as a door lifted on a pulley, unblocking the entrance to a stairwell. Mal ducked inside, her shoes clanging on the metal stairs. Evie was right behind her.  
  
"Is this the hideout??" she questioned in disbelief.  
  
"Secret hideout," Mal corrected. "You blab, you have to deal with me."  
  
"Okay," Evie laughed, unconcerned.  
  
She marveled at the interior, a little home all for the VKs. Mal caught Evie's gaze immediately going to the mural on the wall of herself, Carlos, and Jay.  
  
"Hang with us long enough and you can get up there too," she said.  
  
"...I'd like that. I'd like to be part of the VKs."  
  
"Play your cards right..." Mal said distractedly.  
  
She was going around the hideout, turning out all the lights; clicking off the lamps and unplugging the hanging strings, plunging the room bit by bit into darkness.  
  
"What are you doing?" Evie asked, losing sight of Mal.  
  
Suddenly Mal was aglow from the flame of a lighter she'd flicked open, her face the one and only light in the dark.  
  
"I told you. Finishing out our date."  
  
Mal and the light returned to Evie, standing in front of her with something procured along the way that Evie hadn't noticed before.  
  
"Is that a coconut?" Evie wondered, still very confused.  
  
"Got chucked from Neverland and wound up on the Auradon barge a while ago. Carlos fished it out, and he made this," Mal explained.  
  
"...He made a coconut," Evie was nonplussed, not following.  
  
Mal shook her head, handing Evie the lighter. With both hands now, Mal was free to show Evie how the coconut was neatly split into two halves, taking the top off to reveal a little candle hidden inside. Evie understood the silent gesture, touching the flame of the lighter to the candle wick. Mal replaced the two halves, closing the shell tight, and the sound of Evie's gasp was music to her ears.  
  
The ceiling, the walls,  _everything_  was suddenly littered with tiny pinpoints of soft yellow light, high above and all around, dots of light scattered in clusters and bunches on canvases of black, flickering and twinkling as the flame danced inside its shell.  
  
" _Stars_..." Evie breathed, the most incredible smile on her face.  
  
Mal wasn't paying much attention to the stars; her eyes were firmly fixed on that smile. And how Evie's eyes sparkled.  
  
"...The real secret to living on The Isle isn't being tough, Evie. It's learning to make your own magic."  
  
Mal couldn't believe those words just came tumbling out of her mouth. As soon as she took Evie home for the night she was definitely decking a wall or two. Evie almost looked like she would cry, gazing incredulously at the star show above them.   
  
"...E?"  
  
It took some effort, but Evie eventually tore her eyes away from the ceiling, putting her free hand on top of Mal's.  
  
"...I haven't known a lot of villains, being banished to a castle and everything, but you, Mal...are the sweetest of them all."  
  
Mal's breath hitched when Evie leaned in, and then the princess placed a soft kiss on her cheek.  
  
Mal didn't avoid a blush this time.  
  
"...Don't tell anyone," she eventually managed to say.  "I have a reputation, you know."  
  
Evie giggled, nodding.  
  
"It'll be our secret, Mal." 


	3. Firsts

It was supposed to be one week, seven days of showing the shut-in around, teaching the captive and captivating princess how to last on The Isle and fend for herself. Not two months. Sixty-one days of dates, long talks, getting-to-know-yous, spirited explorations of both The Isle and themselves. In only two months, the majority of Mal's internal dialogue had made the switch from "I" to "Evie and I", and Jay and Carlos had long since learned to stop questioning it.  
  
Mal learned much over the course of those sixty-one days, something new with each one of them. Evie liked fashion. Evie too was gifted artistically. Evie had different smiles for different occasions; smiles for Jay's jokes, smiles for the VKs' schemes, smiles for seeing Mal at the beginning of the schoolday, and a very,  _very_ special smile reserved especially for their first kiss.

A first kiss under the faux stars of the VKs' hideout, after a night of Evie's first bitter taste of life on the mean streets of The Isle, when a princess sans the daughter of Maleficent was seen as an easy target for a couple of urchins looking to make a name for themselves. Three against one, hardly a fair fight, as if "fair" meant anything to anyone on The Isle. And Evie, who hadn't yet made it to fighting lessons from Mal's Guide to Survival went down after the first hit long before Mal and her fists arrived to rescue both Evie and her standing in the hierarchy of villains.  
  
It could've been a lot worse, Mal figured, as she walked Evie to the hideout. Some scrapes, some bruises, but it seemed Evie's pretty face may have saved the day. Knowingly or not, even lowly Isle street rats couldn't rough up a beauty like her  _too_  badly.  
  
"You're okay," Mal said soothingly as Evie recalled her Isle training and waited until they reached the safety of the hideout before dropping to the floor and bursting into tears.  
  
 _"Villains don't cry"_ had been one of Mal's first and cardinal rules, eventually and reluctantly followed by a soft  _"...At least not where anyone can see them."_  
  
"E, you're okay," Mal gently said again as she lit the candle within the punctured coconut that sent a dazzling light show dancing across the ceiling in the otherwise pitch-black loft.  
  
Some scrapes, some bruises, but no blood drawn, definitely an "okay" by Isle standards, but still Evie's sobs filled the room and stabbed through Mal's chest like swords. With the hideout somewhat lit she sat at Evie's side, never having seen her cry before but knowing then and there she could take watching any other horror of The Isle so long as she never had to witness this one again. For a little while she didn't even know what to do, sitting silently and wringing her hands until those same hands somehow found their way to Evie's wet cheeks and wiped the tears away, first with thumbs before switching to lips. Mal had  _no_ idea how kissing Evie's tears away came so naturally, from cheek to cheek until Evie slowly but surely began to calm down.  
  
And when the crying stopped long enough for Evie's brown eyes to clear and find themselves staring into green ones just an inch away, when Evie's breath caught for a reason other than sobbing... _then_ Mal's kiss found its way to Evie's lips, carefully at first, then deeply. When they pulled apart, just barely, one final, whispered "...You're okay" escaped from Mal.  
  
"...I'm okay," Evie repeated, meaning it in its entirety as that very, very special smile brightened her face.  
  
And completely on a whim, a second kiss followed the first, and a third followed the second.  
  
Evie was learning just as much about Mal as Mal was learning about her. Mal was warm, her hugs the equivalent of what Evie imagined a sunny day must feel like. Mal's walls fell away with a touch and a kiss. Mal had a voice like a siren, transfixing Evie in ways she never knew existed the first time Mal sang for her.  
  
An afternoon of escaping reality with the boys turned into a dull and lackluster sunset ghosting through the windows of the hideout and across Mal and Evie after the other two VKs left to partake in Jay's own personal brand of "shopping".  
  
After ten years of isolation, Evie never thought she could enjoy the sound of silence so much, but laid back across the couch with her head in Mal's lap and her eyes falling shut as fingers brushed through her hair, silence was suddenly a wonderful song. Watching Evie, riveted by every single feature of her flawless face, a song of Mal's own came to mind, and there was no one else in the entire world she wanted to let hear her voice for the first time other than Evie.  
  
 _"...Someday my queen will come, someday we'll meet again. And away to our castle we'll go...to be happy forever, I know..."  
_  
Evie gasped in silence the instant that voice struck her ears, never in her wildest dreams imagining that something so soft and beautiful could belong to someone so rough and tough as Mal, her heart swelling with warmth as the song went on.  
  
 _"Someday when spring is here, we'll find our..."_  
  
Mal trailed off just then, just as softly as she'd started, leaving silence hanging between them once more. Evie knew what that next word was, Mal did too from the way that she stopped. And yet, this silence was comfortable, far from awkward. Evie just smiled with Mal's singing lingering in her ears, and Mal's own pulse lingered in hers when she caught sight of said smile. Easy, comfortable silence.  
  
Only around each other could they ever use the words easy and comfortable.  
  
The days went on, and not even the two of them could be surprised anymore when two months rolled into the beginning of a third. And all that time, the girls were still learning things.  
  
Mal sometimes had nightmares. Evie was a good cuddler for someone who went a decade without social interaction from anyone but her mother. Mal could pout just as well as a spoiled Auradon royal. Evie was powerless against it. Mal liked to nap on the sofa of the hideout after a long day at school. Evie liked to kiss her on the cheek before draping a blanket across the sleeping girl and imagine Mal was dreaming about her. Mal was often in a bad mood the morning after having to spend the night at her own house. Evie learned how to cheer her up by having them run wild through the marketplace on their way to school and causing as much mischief and random property damage as they could in one go.  
  
Yes, for three months now Mal and Evie had learned much about each other, and about themselves.  
  
Mal learned that she loved Evie.  
  
Evie learned that she loved Mal.  
  
Not that they remotely knew what love was supposed to feel like from any sort of experience of their own, of course not. They had to define it for themselves. And it may have been rough going, and it may have taken them a little longer than it should've, but eventually they decided. Love was Evie's heartbeat calming Mal down after an alleyway fight as they napped together on the couch. Love was Evie gladly forsaking her beauty sleep to sit up well into the night with Mal and just listen to her talk, talk about her mother, the miserable island, the nightmares...and sometimes, even her feelings, even her fears. Love was felt between them long before it was ever said, and became so natural and familiar that it simply slipped out of its own accord one night as the girls sat on a rooftop and watched the lights of Auradon sparkle in the distance.  
  
 _"And away to our castle we'll go...to be happy forever, I know..."_  
  
Mal had been singing, as she often was for Evie.  
  
 _"Someday when spring is here, we'll find our love anew..."_  
  
This time, when Mal stopped their song, it was at a different part, for a different reason. It didn't even take Evie a moment to realize what had just happened, she'd heard it and known it right away, turning to Mal with wide, expectant eyes.  
  
"M?" she prodded, hoping so fiercely that words would pick up where lyrics left off.  
  
"...Evie, I love you."  
  
Words did indeed pick up where lyrics left off.  
  
"E, I wasn't planning to—I didn't even know I could—but I love you," Mal turned and took both of Evie's hands. "You're the one thing on this island that's good, the one thing that even taught me the  _meaning_ of the word good. Something inside you shines even brighter than the lights of that stupid kingdom out there, and it makes me happy.  _Me_ , Evie.  _Happy_."  
  
Evie's eyes glistened wetly with happiness of her own.  
  
"You were supposed to be the one teaching me to be bad, and somehow I ended up teaching you to be good," she laughed. "...Oh, Mal. I love you too, of course I do! I spent my life so alone, but you turned around and let me into yours...you gave me friendship, and kindness, and...Mal, I love you so much."  
  
Evie was hugging her then, arms wrapped tight around Mal and face buried in the soft crook of her neck, blinking back tears.  
  
After seven days, Mal was supposed to have been done with the new girl. And after seventy, she had fallen in love with her. It was perfectly fitting, in a way. Mal was never really good at doing what she was supposed to do.  
  
So this was love. An ongoing journey that had taken them along the path of first meetings, first dates, first kisses, first declarations.  
  
And along the path of first arguments.  
  
"Mal, stop!" Evie shouted, boots clanging to a halt as she descended the metal staircase of the hideout, turning to glare up at Mal on the landing above. "I'm not a pet that you can just keep on a leash!"  
  
"I only want to know where you're going!" Mal sharply said.  
  
"Every hour. Of every day. Every  _second_  I'm not glued to your side you have to know what I'm up to, where I am, what I'm going to do. Am I not allowed to have a life outside of you??"  
  
Mal gripped the stairwell railing tight as she looked down at Evie.  
  
"I'm just...E, I'm just trying to keep you safe!" Mal yelled, not caring what degenerates in the alley below were listening in.   
  
"I'm a big girl, Mal. I can take care of myself."  
  
"You can't."  
  
"And I don't need you to tell me what I can and can't do! I get enough of that from my mother!"  
  
The fighting instincts that urged Mal to keep at it until she won certainly were strong, but not strong enough. Her fingers uncurled from the railing and she let her hands fall to her sides as she flashbacked over the last three weeks, when The Isle's braver (or stupider) denizens started to get it in their heads that they would once again like to try their hands at taking Mal and Evie down a peg or two and cementing their standing among the other villains and castoffs. And then she flashbacked to that very first day, that very first day she walked a banged-up Evie to the hideout and watched her burst into tears.  
  
"I just want to protect you," Mal tiredly said.  
  
"It feels an awful lot like smothering me."  
  
"You aren't as good at defending yourself as you need to be to hold your own against these guys trying to pick fights with you. That isn't me telling you what you can and can't do. That's me, with more than my share of fights to my name, just telling it how it is."  
  
Evie was at least listening, albeit with a ticked-off pout fixed firmly on her face.  
  
"I can't see you get hurt, E. I couldn't do it before, and I can't do it now. I've only been wanting to keep an eye on you so I could get to you if you ever needed me. But I went too far...Evie, I'm sorry."  
  
Evie let her pout disappear with a long, heavy sigh, starting step by step back up the stairway.  
  
"I'm sorry too, I'm sorry I yelled at you. But you can see why I wouldn't want someone, not even you, keeping track of my every move 24/7."  
  
Mal nodded.  
  
"...I didn't realize that was how you felt about it. Look, you know the boys and I are trying to toughen you up, it was just that in the meantime—"  
  
"I get it, Mal. I understand. But you're my girlfriend, not my babysitter. We have to meet in the middle somewhere."  
  
Evie joined her at the landing, moving beside her.  
  
"...Compromising," Mal muttered. "You realize that's unheard of to villains, right?"  
  
One of Evie's little smiles peeked through.  
  
"So is love," she reminded her. "M, I really am sorry I snapped at you like that."  
  
"It's okay. Listen, controlling is the last thing I'd ever want to be with you. I want you to know that."  
  
"I do. You're just...not used to worrying. I guess this is how you worry."  
  
"I guess so. Just be careful, Evie. Promise."  
  
There was a devilishly amused flash in Evie's eyes.  
  
"I still remember everything you taught me, Mal. You need to lean back..."  
  
"...Slip through the cracks," Mal smiled.  
  
"And watch your back," Evie finished with a nod. "And if I still need your help, I'll know where to find you."  
  
"You always do," Mal chuckled.  
  
"Bye, M," Evie leaned in to kiss her on the cheek before starting back down the stairs. "I love you."  
  
Mal still hadn't gotten used to the heat in her cheeks that rushed in everytime Evie kissed her.  
  
"I love you too, E," Mal called after her.  
  
So this was love. A light that fought its way through the haze over The Isle to fill the hearts of two young girls who needed it the most.  
  
With a wistful smile on her face Mal watched Evie head down the street, getting smaller and smaller in the distance until she turned a corner and disappeared entirely. And in ducking back inside the hideout, Mal found herself looking up at Evie's face painted larger than life on the wall among the murals of the other VKs, just like Mal promised it one day could be. She would paint those perfect features a hundred times over, if only she had the room.  
  
She imagined she might've owed Carlos a thank you, for it seemed like maybe, just maybe, a villain—against all odds—had found a fairytale ending that had long since been reserved only for the heroes.  
  
But little did Mal realize, standing there entranced by the face of her first and only love, that this wasn't Auradon.  
  
This was the Isle of the Lost.  
  
And fairytale endings didn't come quite so easily here.


	4. This is Me

“Well, well, well…look what the catfish dragged in.”  
  
Mal froze. Dropped the broken trinket she was studying in her hands so her fingers had room to curl into fists.   
  
“What are you doing here, wharf rat?” she demanded, turning around.  
  
A cutlass sharp and dangerous as it laid against a hip. A vile sneer. Long, turquoise braids. The stuff of nightmares.  
  
Uma wagged a finger before pointing it out at the sea stretching beyond the docks.  
  
“You don’t get to ask the questions when you’re on  _my_ turf,” she told Mal.  
  
She noted the Auradon barge floating lazily in the water, full of leftovers and “goodies” from the oh-so-gracious kingdom across the waves.  
  
“Digging through the garbage,” Uma scoffed, realizing what Mal was doing. “Look at you moving on up in the world. Now why would big bad Mal be scrounging in the dirt like the rest of us  _wharf rats?”_  
  
Her eyes traveled over the junk on the barge, noticing how some junk in particular stood out all laying close together, stacked on top of each other. A tattered purse with a torn strap, what was once a sparkly clutch, several tarnished necklaces, a snapped costume tiara—which surprised Uma only in the fact that it wasn’t a real one. The spoiled selves of that Auradon crowd probably went through tiaras like worn-out socks. But then she realized, with a vicious grin curling her lips. It was Mal’s discard pile.  
  
“Aw, picking out a present for your little girlfriend?” she jeered.  
  
Mal’s sharp intake of breath was music to Uma’s ears.  
  
“Oh yeah, I heard all about her. Spunky little blue number with a flair for fashion. Pathetic.”  
  
“Shut it, shrimpy,” Mal warned.  
  
“Never thought we’d see the day when you go soft.”  
  
How Mal would’ve loved to have found a worn and dirty baseball on that barge so she’d have something to chuck at Uma’s head.   
  
“So what’s the occasion?” Uma just couldn’t stop. “Birthday? Anniversary? Day ending in ‘Y’?”  
  
“None of your damn business.”  
  
Uma shook her head and crossed her arms.  
  
“This is really sad, Mal,” she laughed. “You and this girl running up and down The Isle, holding hands and braiding each other’s hair? Do you really think this is you?”  
  
Mal’s jaw tightened, her eyes hardened.  
  
“What is that supposed to mean?”  
  
“Exactly what it sounds like it’s supposed to mean. You’re no mushy, doting girlfriend. You’re a villain, daughter of the second worst.”  
  
“The worst,” Mal bitterly corrected through clenched teeth.  
  
“Aha!” Uma pointed an accusing finger at her. “You admit it. You can play cute all you want but you  _know_  that deep down you’ll always be a villain. So how 'bout you stop embarrassing yourself and get out of the garbage?”  
  
“Afraid there won’t be any room for you?” Mal practically spat, indeed stepping from the barge and onto the docks.  
  
She butted purposely into Uma as she walked past, bringing a laugh out of the pirate.  
  
“Say hi to the girlfriend for me,” Uma teased, sending Mal off with a mockingly girlish wave.  
  
From up in the hideout, the VKs could hear the sounds of the sign being knocked and the gate lifting open. Sitting on the couch in front of the staticky tv, three heads turned in the direction of the noise.  
  
“Mal!” Evie’s face lit up, and she bounded to her feet to meet her at the hideout entrance.  
  
She ran right into Mal’s arms as she walked in, catching her a bit off guard as Mal hadn’t expected her to be so quick with a greeting.  
  
“I was only gone a couple hours,” Mal’s laugh was hollow, distracted, like a thing she had to remind herself to do at the last minute.  
  
Such an odd contrast. Talking with Uma versus being held by Evie. One little run in with the daughter of Ursula left Mal feeling cold, withdrawn. The rotten girl stuck on a floating island of garbage. But Evie? Evie’s arms around her and one happy girl willingly buried in her embrace? Mal didn’t feel quite so rotten, or quite so stuck.  
  
She couldn’t help but suddenly wonder which one she really was.  
  
The VKs didn’t go home that night, they stayed at the hideout. It wasn’t like they’d be missed, wasn’t like they were  _ever_ missed when they traded home for hideout. Mal had long since gotten used to the boys’ snoring in their own corners of the loft, but Evie, not so much. Being talked to sleep—or better, sung to sleep—was how Evie drifted off when all four of them stayed the night, tucked close to her girlfriend under the sheets of Mal’s bed. But tonight it wasn’t just Evie unable to easily fall asleep as Mal tossed and turned beside her, jostling the creaky bed. So much so that Evie let her head fall to the side, watching Mal’s restless movements for a second.  
  
“…M,” she whispered.  
  
Mal stopped at the sound of her voice, froze in place for a second before rolling over and finding Evie’s face in the dark.  
  
“What’s on your mind?” Evie asked.  
  
“Me? Nothing,” Mal told her.  
  
“You can’t sleep.”  
  
“Because I’m laying on a hunk of concrete that passes itself off as a bed,” Mal grumbled, making a show of trying to get comfortable.  
  
“I know you a little bit better than that, Mal.”  
  
Evie saw right through her. Of course she did, studying Mal was how they came together in the first place. But as the months passed, studying how Mal tiptoed on her way to pickpocket and sneered as she crafted up lies turned into studying how Mal’s body tightened in on itself when troublesome thoughts overwhelmed her, or how she answered Evie’s inquiries of “what’s wrong?” just a little too quickly.  
  
“Where did you go after school today?” Evie asked, quick as a whip and wondering if that might have something to do with it.  
  
“Do you still think about Auradon sometimes?”  
  
Neither girl expected Mal to come back with a question of her own, least of all  _that_ question. Evie frowned to herself in the dark, puzzling it over.  
  
“Sometimes, I suppose. I haven’t really realized it, but I guess I’ve been thinking about it less and less.”  
  
“Why less and less?”  
  
The frown turned itself upside down.  
  
“Because I’m happy here,” Evie said unashamedly. “Not here on The Isle, of course, but here with you, and Jay, and Carlos.”  
  
“…A person can’t really be happy on The Isle.”  
  
“No, but they can be happy with the people they love,” Evie wisely said. “I love  _you,_ Mal. In case you forgot that.”  
  
Uma made her feel cold and hard that afternoon. Evie made her utterly melt.  
  
“…I don’t think I could forget that,” Mal quietly said.  
  
Evie didn’t understand the cryptic undertones.  
  
“Will you tell me what’s wrong, Mal? You know you can.”  
  
No, Mal really couldn’t. She herself couldn’t even answer the question of what was wrong. Just a case of old enemies getting under her skin, she supposed, digging in deep and clawing at her from the inside out. Just pointed words, jabbing and scratching.  
  
 _“Do you really think this is you?”_  
  
She’d be over it in the morning.  
  
 _“You’re no mushy, doting girlfriend. You’re a villain.”_  
  
If she could ever get to sleep, that is.  
  
“There’s really nothing wrong, E,” she scooted in closer to place a kiss on Evie’s forehead. “But thank you for asking.”  
  
“A villain’s not supposed to say thank you,” Evie teased with a lighthearted laugh.  
  
“…I’m not a villain. I’m your girlfriend.”  
  
“You are. The very best girlfriend in all of Auradon,” Evie nodded.  
  
Mal stopped tossing after that, stopped turning. She curled up on her side and felt Evie curl up beside her. It was hard to feel a need to fidget with Evie’s arm around her waist.   
  
The best villain was what Mal always strived to be. The best girlfriend was what she ended up being. She could live with that.  
  
…Couldn’t she?

* * *

“And just where have you been all week, miss missy?”  
  
Mal wasn’t expecting her mother to be  _right there_  when she stepped into the castle after school, lurking among the mannequins in the ground floor shop like she was one of them herself.  
  
“…Me?” Mal said woodenly, clutching the strap of her backpack. “Out. You know, scheming. Wreaking havoc.”  
  
“Funny,” each of Maleficent’s steps forward were accompanied by the steady “tmp, tmp” of her staff against the floor. “From here in the castle I haven’t heard any sounds of general chaos, no cursing your name.”  
  
“Well isn’t the whole point of getting away with something for no one to know it was you?”  
  
“That’s the mark of a _criminal,_ Mal!” Maleficent pointed her scepter right at her daughter, and Mal hated the way she flinched. “Not a villain!”  
  
“What’s the difference?” Mal petulantly questioned, thinking of Evie and how she didn’t feel like either when she was with her.  
  
“Just that!” Maleficent jabbed the scepter in Mal’s direction a second time, and Mal flinched once more. “Criminals slink around the shadows, covering their weaselly little tracks. We villains are bold, and vile! We _want_  the world to know our names!”  
  
Mal stared. Maleficent stared right back.  
  
“…Well?” the sorceress raised an eyebrow. “What are you waiting for? Go be evil!”  
  
“…Right away,” Mal grumbled, avoiding a mocking salute out of fear that her mother might do more with the scepter than just point it at her.  
  
She dropped her backpack on the ground before turning and walking right back out the doors she’d just come through, thinking that maybe not picking up after herself would earn her points.  
  
As they often seemed to do without her even realizing it, Mal’s feet took her up and down the dirty streets of The Isle and right to Evie’s castle, parking her right underneath the girl’s window. The little pile of stones she’d fashioned together forever ago sat in place at the base of the wall, Mal picked one up and bounced it around in her fist for a second before rearing back and hurling it at the glass. It hadn’t even been an hour since she’d seen Evie, saying goodbye to her at school, but still her face at the window was a welcome sight.  
  
“Hi Mal,” Evie happily greeted after unlocking the window and poking her head out.  
  
What a smile. It literally took Mal’s breath away for a moment.  
  
“Hey, E. Come on down.”  
  
Evie didn’t need to be asked twice. The stones of the wall under her window were uneven, dilapidated, with plenty of improvised handholds and footholds, and Evie had climbed down to meet Mal so many times it was practically muscle memory at this point. But still, Mal hovered around protectively underneath her, ready to catch her if she happened to fall. Evie made it safe and sound, just like she always did. Mal brushed a bit of gravel off Evie’s shoulder, and pretended to have an excuse to run her fingers through Evie’s hair. This girl made it very hard for Mal to feel evil.  
  
“Couldn’t wait to see me?” Evie giggled.  
  
Mal kissed the tip of her nose, not caring in the moment who might be around to see.  
  
“Feel like causing trouble?” Mal asked.  
  
“With you? Of course.”  
  
The girls started walking, away from the Evil Queen’s castle.  
  
“Mom got on my case,” Mal petulantly shoved her hands in her pants pockets. “I haven’t been scheming enough.”  
  
“…No, you haven’t. You’ve mostly been spending all your time with me,” Evie realized. “…Am I a distraction?”  
  
“Yes, a wonderful distraction that I love to be distracted with,” Mal quickly answered.  
  
“I just know how your mom pressures you, M. She wants to turn you into the next her. I don’t want to get in her way.”  
  
 _I wish you would._  
  
Mal couldn’t bring herself to say it.  
  
“So, what did you have in mind?” Evie asked. “Pickpocketing? Robbery? Random property damage?”  
  
Sometimes Mal couldn’t believe this was the same shy and soft Evie that Carlos had introduced her to all those months ago. All that time around Maleficent’s daughter had really done her some bad.  
  
“I don’t know,” Mal sighed. Truth be told, she really didn’t feel up to causing any sort of mischief.  
  
Evie remembered Mal’s tossing and turning, the restless moments in bed. She reached out to tug on Mal’s sleeve, bringing her to a stop. Under Evie’s guided gesture, they sat down together on the curb of the sidewalk, Mal with a curious glint in her eyes the entire time.  
  
“M, if I asked you what was wrong today, would you tell me?” Evie softly wondered.  
  
Mal still didn’t have an answer to that question herself. How could she possibly give one to Evie?  
  
“I just…I don’t want to waste my time doing pointless evil things when I could be spending my time with you instead.”  
  
Was that a lie? Mal couldn’t tell. Evie leaned over and bumped against her shoulder with a smile.  
  
“Well that’s the beauty of it, Mal. We can do evil things together,” she said. “I guess people don’t really date on The Isle, it’s more like…gang activity.”  
  
Mal laughed.  
  
“So what do you say?” Evie went on. “Want to go steal some fuzzy Auradon candy from babies?”  
  
“…Evie, that is nasty and devious.”  
  
Evie kissed her on the cheek.  
  
“I learned from the best.”  
  
So off they went to do just that, slinking from street to street, stoop to stoop, robbing brats of their sickly sour Auradon leftovers and scampering off to the sounds of cries and wails. They just had to be cruel, making their way down to the seaside with their swindled loot and dumping the candy into the ocean. A fitting message for Auradon. Mal would’ve loved to tell the royal crowd exactly where they could stick their used lollipops. Equally fitting was how the girls ended up remarkably near to where they’d had their first official date, where they sat together at the edge of a rotting dock and watched the sun set below the horizon, clear and colorful so near the magic barrier. And here they were again, the sun beginning its descent, the two of them sitting on a sloping bluff and listening to waves.  
  
“It’s still a prison,” Mal sighed heavily, voice breaking the steady rhythm of the sea. “But when you can’t see the bars…I guess it’s just easy to forget.”  
  
“It’s a prison,” Evie agreed. “But it’s not so bad when you get to know some of the inmates.”  
  
“What if we could escape?” Mal wistfully wondered. “You, me, Jay, and Carlos?”  
  
Evie was caught off guard. Wistful was not a thing that Mal ever was. She turned herself away from the waves, away from the shadow of Auradon, to have all her attention on Mal.  
  
“M, what is up with you?” her words weren’t stern, but firm, demanding an answer and demanding that she not be lied to. “You aren’t sounding like yourself.”  
  
And Mal wanted to lie. But this was Evie she was talking to, Evie who she loved and trusted and couldn’t lie to anymore when all the girl wanted to do was help.  
  
“I’m not sounding like myself because I’m starting to realize I’m not entirely sure who I am,” she said in one quick sigh, absolutely hating the way it sounded out loud. So cliché. So overdone. Something to be said by a prissy pink princess, not a villain’s child.  
  
Evie scooted close and found Mal’s hand, lacing their fingers together.  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
Her tone was soft, gentle. In just four words she made it clear that she was listening, that Mal had all the time she needed to sort out her thoughts and get her feelings in order before she explained. But Mal didn’t utilize her time. She had the general gist of it.  
  
“I mean, you said it best, E,” she began with a defeated shrug. “Mom wants me to become the next her, the worst villain in the land. And all my life, that’s what I’ve been trying to become. But then…then I met you. You spent ten years trapped with your mother just like I’ve been trapped with mine, and you turned out  _nothing_ like me. When I met you, you were so good, and kind, and sweet. You were everything I wasn’t, and to this day, when I’m with you…I don’t feel like I want to be evil.”  
  
Mal’s body shivered when she admitted it, a reflexive flinch like Maleficent was listening in somehow and Mal was just  _waiting_  to be struck with that dead and useless scepter.  
  
“…You don’t want to be evil,” Evie repeated, getting a taste for the words.  
  
Mal drew her knees to her chest and hugged them there, too ashamed to look Evie in the eyes and giving a hard stare to the sea instead.  
  
“Evie, being with you has shown me that a villain kid is what I am, not who I am. And now I just don’t know who I am.”  
  
Evie squeezed Mal’s hand a little tighter, and wore a reassuring smile even though Mal wasn’t looking to see it.  
  
“Who do you want to be?” she asked.  
  
And that gave Mal pause. Not once in her life had anyone ever asked her, not once did she ever think she could choose for herself.  
  
“I don’t even know, Evie,” she sighed heavily. “All I can think is…I want to be your girlfriend.”  
  
“You already are that, silly,” Evie giggled. “But you can be so much more than just that. And you don’t have to figure it out all at once, M.”  
  
Mal finally looked back to Evie, eyes sad and pleading.  
  
“…Can I still be your girlfriend in the meantime?”   
  
When Evie kissed her, it was like everything just disappeared, every troubled thought and confused pang in Mal’s chest simply floated away, never to bother her again.  
  
“You will always be my girlfriend, Mal,” Evie promised her.  
  
Mal loved her. Tremendously, hopelessly. As the sky darkened and the sun hid beneath the horizon, as Evie put an arm around her and let Mal lay a busy head on her shoulder, Mal loved her very, very hopelessly.  
  
“…I hope you can escape from here one day, Evie,” Mal’s quiet voice was almost lost down among the crashing waves.  
  
“What makes you think I’m going to escape without the boys and you?”  
  
Mal shook her head.  
  
“Even if I don’t want to be…I’m still the daughter of Maleficent. Auradon doesn’t have a place for me,” she whispered. “But it has a place for you. You and your big heart. Those are all the rage in Auradon, after all.”  
  
“If you’re staying, I’m staying too,” Evie said simply.  
  
So simply. Like it was the plainest fact in the world, one of nature’s laws. What goes up must come down. As above, so below. Where Mal went, Evie would follow.  
  
“Evie, if through some twist of fate you miraculously get a chance to go to Auradon, I am not going to stand in the way of that. I’m not—”  
  
“Auradon won’t be nearly as happy and magical a place if you aren’t there with me,” Evie interrupted. “So no, Mal. I’m not going anywhere without you.”  
  
The moon was their only light as Evie pressed a kiss to Mal’s forehead, the enchanting opal in the sky still bright enough even through the magic barrier and the passing haze of dirty clouds drifting by. The waves lapping at the sandy shore, steadily and rhythmically. In that one moment, Evie had a point. For a few quiet seconds, the miserable island was just as magical as Auradon so long as Mal and Evie sat side by side.  
  
Tremendously and hopelessly in love with Evie.  
  
“…I don’t know what I’d do without you, E.”  
  
“You don’t have to find out.”  
  
Dangerously in love with Evie.  
  
Fallen deep, deeply in love, and falling deeper everyday.  
  
Terrifyingly deep.  
  
With a suddenly racing heart and invisible walls closing in even though they sat among the wide outdoors, Mal slowly lifted her head and even more slowly slid her way out from under Evie’s arm, putting a bit of space between them. Evie paid it no mind, was more than content to let Mal have her space, while Mal meanwhile could feel steel walls creeping closer and closer to crushing her.   
  
She had absolutely no idea how she managed to walk Evie back to her castle, kiss her goodnight, and stand protectively under the bedroom window as Evie climbed her way up. Every step just made it harder and harder for Mal to breathe, and only when Evie had waved her goodbye and goodnight from the window before disappearing inside her room did Mal feel any sense of relief fill her chest. She always thought it would be a cold day in the underworld when she felt relieved to see Evie go, but here she was.  
  
 _“Do you really think this is you?”  
  
“I’m not entirely sure who I am.”  
  
“You’re no mushy, doting girlfriend. You’re a villain.”  
  
“You spent ten years trapped with your mother just like I’ve been trapped with mine, and you turned out nothing like me.”  
  
“When I met you, you were so good, and kind, and sweet. You were everything I wasn’t.”  
  
“I’m not entirely sure who I am.”_  
  
A million thoughts in her head took her back to her own home without her even knowing, the jagged shadow of Maleficent’s castle looming before her. She couldn’t go in there. Where the panic of being so close at Evie’s side had just finally started to ebb away, the panic of stepping through the wooden doors and facing the dragon inside flooded Mal full force.   
  
Paranoia. Maleficent had eyes everywhere, she  _knew_  the blasphemous things Mal had said that night, and even  _heard_ the equally blasphemous thoughts screaming in her head. Maleficent knew her daughter had tried to turn her back on evil, and she wouldn’t let that slide. Mal could feel every strike of the scepter against her bones, flinching and twitching almost rhythmically like her mother was already there, already flown into a rage as she had flown outside to meet Mal head on. Blazing green fire in her eyes, and Mal would swear on her life that that mouth was suddenly full of fangs even though the one small corner of her brain not drowning in blind panic knew that just wasn’t possible. The jagged shadow of her mother’s castle loomed before her, watching and judging.  
  
And Mal ran.  
  
Tripped over her own feet and fell hard onto the broken pavement, but turned tail and ran nonetheless, scrapes on her chin and arms already beading with blood. It was as if eyes of blazing green fire were locked on her long after she’d turned a corner and left the castle behind, and her heels were hot with dragon flame. Mal didn’t know what she was running from, or why. Her mother’s inevitable wrath? Or maybe even herself? All she knew was that she had to go, and she had to go  _now._ And when she finally stopped, red-faced and panting with her heart for sure about to burst in her chest, she wasn’t even sure where she’d ended up.  
  
“…Now you  _know_ how I hate to repeat myself, but well, well, well. Look what the catfish dragged in.”  
  
A cutlass sharp and dangerous as it laid against a hip. A vile sneer. Long, turquoise braids. Mal standing on shaking legs of burning muscle at the bottom of a gangway, eyes drawn up and up to the ship’s captain and the jackal-like grins of the crew behind her.  
  
“…Feel like causing trouble?” Mal asked Uma.  
  
“With you? Hell no.”  
  
Mal wasn’t even waiting to catch her breath, an almost pathetic sight gasping for air on the docks.  
  
“I’ll make it worth your while,” she insisted.  
  
Uma only laughed. Well, her crew laughed. The sound Uma made was something more akin to a maniacal cackle.  
  
“Worth my while? You’re not even worth my  _time,”_ she mocked. “What the hell am I supposed to do with the princess’ whipped girlfriend?”  
  
When Mal clenched her fingers into fists, she could’ve sworn she felt claws.  
  
“…I’m not the princess’ whipped girlfriend tonight. Tonight, I’m Maleficent’s ruthless daughter.”  
  
“Is that so?”  
  
Mal didn’t answer, just stood perfectly still as Uma’s calculating eyes looked down on her from the ship’s railing. She sounded like Maleficent’s ruthless daughter. Looked like her too, with fiery eyes and threatening fists and a malicious aura encompassing her small form. Uma’s night was young, and Uma’s schedule was free.  
  
And Uma’s graceful bow, although clearly teasing and taunting, was all the invitation the dragon’s daughter needed.  
  
“Welcome aboard, Mal.”


	5. Blood in the Water

_"Evie, being with you has shown me that a villain kid is what I am, not who I am. And now I just don't know who I am."  
  
"Who do you want to be?"  
  
"I don't even know, Evie. All I can think is...I want to be your girlfriend."  
  
"You already are that, silly. But you can be so much more than just that. And you don't have to figure it out all at once, M."  
  
"...Can I still be your girlfriend in the meantime?"  
  
"You will always be my girlfriend, Mal."_  
  
Always. That was a very long time. And maybe, just maybe, it was a little bit  _too_  long.

Mal hated the fact that she'd spent enough time inside Ursula's Fish and Chips by now to be used to the smell. Cold fish, bitterly salty air, a sort of grimy, wet stench that must have been what perpetual mold and mildew smelled like. Tonight, Mal sat drumming her fingers on the countertop, chin resting in her hand as the restaurant was officially closed down to customers for the night and Uma's pirates had free reign. Dancing on the tables, swordfighting for scraps, and just partaking in a general, very loud raucous.  
  
"I'd warn you your face will freeze like that, but hey, it'd only be an improvement," Uma cackled, turning her attention away from the mayhem and taking a seat on the stool next to Mal.  
  
The scowl Uma referred to on Mal's face only soured even more with her presence.  
  
"Don't you have chairs to stack or floors to mop?" Mal chided.  
  
"No one dragged you here by your stuck-up little nose, Mal.  _You_ chose to start hanging with  _us,_  remember? You got bored of the snooty girlfriend and decided to have some real fun."  
  
Stinging words, but what stung Mal even more was knowing that there was some truth to them.  
  
There was nothing wrong between her and Evie, at least, nothing that Evie knew about. Mal had a name to live up to, a villainous mantle to carry, and there was no way she could do that with Evie's soft smiles and softer kisses melting her where she stood. Maleficent was watching, now more so than ever. So Mal had taken to spending more and more time with Uma and her pirate crew, plundering, pilfering, ransacking, and vandalizing. Nights that used to be spent falling asleep at Evie's side were now spent running the island's streets with Uma, reminding Mal of what life was like before Evie ever came around.  
  
"Why don't we pay a visit to the girlfriend after I close up shop?" Uma drew her sword and studied its glinting tip with an equally sharp grin. "I've always wanted to try my hand at kidnapping. What do you think the Evil Queen would hand over to get her back?"  
  
Mal's drumming fingers curled themselves into a fist.  
  
"That isn't funny, wharf rat."  
  
"Who said I was trying to be funny?" Uma's eyes twinkled fiendishly. "Ooh, what if she waits for you to come rescue her when we have her tied up on my ship? What if she's wishing and hoping for you to be the knight in shining armor and it turns out that you're the one who had a sword to her neck all along? Now  _that_ would be funny."  
  
"Shut up..." Mal growled.  
  
"I wonder if she misses you. You've been coming here every night for, what, weeks without a word? I wonder if she's sitting up in that hideout of yours, all alone and hurting and wondering what she did wrong to drive you away."  
  
"I said shut up!!"  
  
Mal’s hands had Uma by the collar of her jacket in one automatic motion, shoving her back and pinning her down against the gnarled wood of the countertop. The endless unsheathing of steel was the only sound in the restaurant, as even with her back turned Mal knew that every pirate in the place had drawn their swords in defense of the captain. Uma only laughed as she held up a single hand to back them all off.  
  
"That's cute, Mal. Real cute. If only your mom could see you now. When are you gonna introduce her to Evie?"  
  
Mal let her go with a shove, settling back onto her own stool and ruefully crossing her arms as all around her the pirates warily put their swords away.  
  
"You're just a barrel of laughs, aren't you?" Mal grumbled.  
  
Uma ignored her, daintily straightening her captain's hat in a clearly mocking manner.  
  
"After I close up here we're looting the Slop Shop tonight," she said. "You in?"  
  
Mal wouldn't look at her, just kept a hard glare trained out into thin air.  
  
"...Of course I am."

* * *

 

Evie wasn't the type to worry, she was beautiful and smart and elegant, with an adoring girlfriend who made life in prison feel like life in heaven. But oh, how that girlfriend herself was cause for worry.  
  
"...Hi Mal," she greeted her that morning at school, waiting by Mal's locker.  
  
"Hi, E."  
  
Mal smiled at her as she went to fumble with her combination lock. Evie was waiting on a kiss, but just a smile was fine too, she supposed.  
  
"I haven't seen much of you lately, M...is everything okay?"  
  
"Yeah, Evie, I'm sorry I haven't been spending much time with you, but...it's my mom."  
  
It wasn't  _completely_  a lie.  
  
"That's what I thought..." Evie sighed. "But you don't need to apologize. I know you have to stay on Maleficent's good side, and that's hard for you to do when you're with me."  
  
Mal turned away from her locker, her focus completely on Evie.  
  
"...I wish I could be both Maleficent's daughter  _and_  your girlfriend," she sadly murmured.  
  
It wasn't a lie in the slightest.  
  
"M, you are."  
  
"But not at the same time. I can't just be... _me._  I have to be one or the other. It's almost like being both parts in a play, constantly having to run offstage to change my costume and change my mask before I come back out. It's so tiring, Evie."  
  
"...I know," Evie cupped a hand to Mal's cheek, brushing her thumb back and forth across her skin. "...But I miss you, Mal. Is there anyway we can get together tonight?"  
  
Mal hesitated, drawing away from under Evie's touch.  
  
"Um...not tonight, Evie," she bit her lip. "House arrest. Mom is keeping too close an eye on me right now for me to get away with sneaking out."  
  
Watching Evie's face fall was a hard thing for Mal to do.  
  
"...But I miss you too," she said the words as if they could be any sort of consolation. "It's just, the sooner I get my mom off my case, the sooner things can go back to normal for us."  
  
Evie mustered a brave smile.  
  
"I understand, Mal. Just let me know if you need a partner-in-crime, okay? I'll wait for you."  
  
What a girl Mal had fallen in love with.  
  
"...Hey, we're still together here at school," she reminded Evie.  
  
Evie's smile brightened into something more genuine.  
  
"Yeah, we are. So maybe you and I have a lunch date after fourth period today."  
  
"Maybe we do."  
  
Evie kissed her, never concerned with who might be watching, or judging, or cringing.  
  
"I'll see you then," she promised.  
  
And lunch couldn't come soon enough for them, with eyes constantly on the cracked clock faces of Dragon Hall through first, second, third period. But it was somewhere in the middle of third period when Mal, at her half-broken desk in the classroom's back corner, heard the tapping on the window next to her that went unnoticed by the teacher, asleep and uncaring at the head of the room. Mal almost wondered if she was asleep and dreaming herself when she boredly glanced over at the window after the tapping.  
  
And saw Uma and her first mate grinning menacingly at her through the glass.  
  
No one cared that Mal got up to pop the window open, and even if they did, no one was in a position to stop her.  
  
 _"What_  are you sea creeps doing out of Serpent Prep?" she demanded.  
  
Harry Hook of course raised his father's glinting metal heirloom in his hand.  
  
"Playing hooky," he said, his smile twisting into something fiendishly delighted at his pun.  
  
"How many brownie points do you think skipping school will earn you with mommy dearest?" Uma asked with a knowing smirk.  
  
A ton. Mal knew that answer off the top of her head. So of course she abandoned her things on her desk to climb through the window and out into the not-so-fresh Isle air.  
  
"There's the Mal we used to know," Uma's smile was positively vicious.  
  
The Mal they used to know. The liar, the schemer, the freak. The absolute wrong girl for Evie.  
  
First, second, third period, fourth, Evie's eyes were constantly on the cracked clock faces of Dragon Hall. And when lunch finally arrived, and Evie brightly bounded into the dilapidated cafeteria with its flickering lights and questionable smells, Mal was nowhere to be found.

* * *

 

The stench from Ursula's seemed particularly gagging tonight, or maybe it was just the fact that Mal, even hours after school had ended, still felt sick over what she'd done.  
  
She stood Evie up. Smiled and teased a little date all their own and let Evie seal it with a kiss before Mal took off traipsing out the window on Shrimpy's heels. She hadn't  _meant_ to, of course not, but that didn't make it any better. Time escaped her clutches as she was out with Uma and Harry, and it wasn't until she was climbing back through a window at the end of sixth period that Mal realized and remembered what exactly she'd missed in her efforts to get up to her old tricks.  
  
Seemed she really couldn't be Evie's girlfriend and Maleficent's daughter at the same time.  
  
"Are you _still_  pouting over here?" Uma, still on the clock but not giving a damn, swaggered over and dropped into the chair next to Mal. "Mal, come on. You stood her up, it's not like you killed the girl."  
  
Mal pressed a finger to her temple to keep from poking Uma's eye out with it.  
  
"Uma, since it's impossible for you to wrap your waterlogged head around the concept of caring about someone—"  
  
"Thankfully."  
  
"—You don't get to make cracks about my love life."  
  
"'Love life'?" Uma physically shuddered. "Ugh. How can you say that? Do you hear yourself when you say that? Because you sound ridiculous."  
  
"Maybe I am," Mal sighed. "If I even have to question whether or not I'd throw Evie away just to cater to my mother, maybe I'm very ridiculous."  
  
Uma rolled her eyes in disgust.  
  
"Spare me."  
  
"You're bringin' us down, matey," Harry mocked sadness as he passed by, faking big blinking eyes and a jutting lower lip.  
  
"You are a sorry excuse for a villain, did I mention that?" Uma questioned.  
  
"Only twice today," now Mal rolled her eyes.  
  
She used to think the same about Evie. That fateful first day, wandering the island's streets at Carlos' behest and grudgingly teaching Evie how to be bad, Mal had thought the very same thing. With her neat little skirts and stupidly warm smiles, her purse jingling with change to pay for what Mal and every other denizen simply stole, it was very clear that there was no place for Evie on the Isle of the Lost.  
  
Funny how that turned out to be the thing Mal loved most about her.  
  
One of Ursula's customers trudged her way over on a peg leg, scowling and sneering all the way.  
  
"Hey! Get me another plate of brine balls," she locked eyes with Uma, whose expression clearly read as that of someone in the middle of a conversation.  
  
"What do I look like, a vending machine? Get up out of my face!" Uma barked.  
  
The scowls and sneers only doubled in force as the woman turned in defeat and again trudged back to her own table, and Mal could only raise a judgmental eyebrow at Uma.  
  
"We close in ten minutes, ain't nobody got time for more brine balls," she explained. "And you and I have places to be after we close."  
  
Sneaking around vandalizing storefronts in the dead of night was hardly Mal's idea of a good time anymore, but when her mother awoke the next morning and found Mal's mark spray painted all over downtown, it was sure to earn her props and the turning of a blind eye that she needed to drop her darker persona for a while and go back to being Evie's sweet and loving girlfriend. Like being both parts in a play. Constantly having to run offstage to change her costume and change her mask. Perhaps a balancing act she'd have to pull off for the rest of her life. Very strange how the thought of being with Evie was suddenly and automatically something she regarded as falling into the "rest-of-her-life" category.  
  
"Harry!" Uma called out across the restaurant. "You're in charge while we're gone."  
  
"Aye aye, cap'n," the boy saluted with his hook.  
  
A little while later the pair was out and about, the streets of The Isle were decidedly more empty and abandoned as only the toughest of urchins knew how to survive at night.  
  
"Remember, we're stopping at the hideout first to grab the cans of spray paint," Mal said as she walked in front, leading the way.  
  
"Your wee little clubhouse?" Uma imitated Harry's accent. "How precious."  
  
There were no miracles on the Isle of the Lost, except for the miracle of how Mal had managed to go all this time without knocking Uma senseless.  
  
"So that’s where you and the girlfriend live? Singing to animals and sewing dresses with mice?" the pirate jokingly asked.  
  
"There's no one there tonight. Evie, Carlos, and Jay are all at home."  
  
"And do you send Tweedledee and Tweedledum away when you guys need your special alone time?" Uma snickered.  
  
"We haven't—...that's none of your business."  
  
Mal was grateful that they went the rest of the way in silence, and when they reached the alley she bounced one of the waiting rocks in her palm before tossing it at the sign and opening the way.  
  
"Don't touch anything," she warned as she started up the metal staircase.  
  
Uma took a look around after they went all the way up and walked into the hideout, studying the strings of lights, the collection of secondhand odds and ends, the murals of the VKs painted on the walls.  
  
"This is just tacky," Uma wrinkled her nose at the painting of Evie.  
  
"Your creaking pirate ship isn't exactly designer chic," Mal countered, turning on a lamp. "Now come on, take some of these cans."  
  
Mal's veritable rainbow of spray paints were littered all over the room, but piled together mainly on one of the desks as the remnants of her last art project. Mal picked out her purple and her green from the lineup, but she and Uma made a reach for the can of black spray paint at the same time.  
  
"...Black is my color," Mal growled, snatching the spray paint away.  
  
"Like hell it is," Uma snatched it back.  
  
Then it was a tug-of-war between them, their fierce grips pulling this way and that as both girls were the type who didn't take kindly to not getting their way.  
  
"Vandalizing the night away was  _my_  idea," Uma insisted.  
  
"And it's  _my_ spray paint, so I get first choice."  
  
"Why don't you stick with blue? Obviously that's more your speed."  
  
"Why don't I go ahead and let you have black  _and_ blue?" Mal's free hand curled into a fist in a clear warning that she wasn't talking about paint.  
  
A stare-down was imminent, one where Uma's classic smirk viciously shone at Mal and Mal was just a little too invested in glaring at the sharp curve of Uma's smile.  
  
"...You said you were under house arrest."  
  
A voice far softer than the hard and stubborn almost-shouts of Uma and Mal. Their heads whipped around, and there she was, heartbreaking in her pajamas as she stood in the doorway of hers and Mal's room and rubbed once at her sleepy eyes.  
  
"Evie..." Mal whispered.  
  
The black spray paint fell from the two villains' hands and clattered loudly to the floor, rolling around at Mal and Uma's feet.  
  
"...You said you couldn't come out tonight because you wouldn't be able to get past Maleficent," Evie murmured.  
  
"You said that?" Uma eyed Mal. "You've been ghosting her  _and_ lying to her? Damn, I take it back, maybe you're not such a sorry excuse for a villain after all."  
  
She caught Evie's focus on her just then. Took off her captain's hat and bowed to the princess in such a mocking manner.  
  
"Hi, Uma, daughter of Ursula. I'm the girl your Mal's been hanging out with instead of you for the past month."  
  
"Uma, get out of here!!" Mal snapped, rounding on her.  
  
"And miss the show?"  
  
The sight of her girlfriend so innocently lost and confused was the only thing stopping Mal from punching the sea urchin right in the face.  
  
"Get out, before Harry Hook has to come over here and carry you back to the ship in pieces," clenching her teeth, Mal pointed Uma back the way they came.  
  
Although far from threatened, Uma nevertheless heeded, but not before retrieving the black spray paint with a laugh and idly sauntering her way out of the hideout.  
  
"See you later," she said and promised over her shoulder.  
  
Mal and Evie were still until the sound of Uma's footsteps stopped echoing down the stairs outside and the rusty clanging of the gate falling shut truly signaled her departure.  
  
"...Evie, I can explain," Mal didn't quite recognized the small sound of her voice.  
  
Evie folded her arms around herself like a terrible chill whipped through the loft, avoiding Mal's eyes.  
  
"I don't think I want you to."  
  
She turned on her heels and disappeared back into her room, but Mal was right on her tail, running across the hideout after her.  
  
"Evie, it's not what you think!!"  
  
Evie had a seat on the edge of their creaking bed, eyes already watering.  
  
"I think you've been lying to me," she said quietly, still hugging herself tight.  
  
Alright, so maybe it  _was_  what she thought. Mal wished that Evie would be furious with her. That she would scream and shout and perhaps even throw things, cursing Mal's name and vowing to hate her forever.  
  
But the only thing showing in Evie's glistening eyes and on her quivering lip was heartbreak, barely contained. The purest soul on the entire wretched island and in the whole of Auradon cruelly crushed as Mal looked on. She couldn't even stand anymore. When the first sad sniffle came from Evie, Mal dropped to her knees in front of her and looked up at the girl like a raging monster coming out of its haze and realizing just how much destruction and chaos it had wrought.  
  
"...E-Evie, I've been hanging out with Uma," she somehow found the strength to admit. "But i-it's not like...it's not like I'm  _with_  her or anything! We aren't even friends! I can't stand Uma!"  
  
"You'd just rather spend your time with her instead of me," Evie nodded to herself, as if finding the answer to a question she hadn't even asked.  
  
"That is  _not_ it," Mal vehemently denied. "I've been...I've been struggling, E. So much. Caught in a fight between who I have to be and who I want to be. Uma, she's...she's my way to be wicked, hanging out with her is how I get into all the mischief and cause all the trouble that my mother wants me to cause. It's how I can keep up appearances and keep her happy."  
  
"You told me that you don't even want to be evil anymore, Mal. The entire time we've been together you've never cared about keeping up appearances, why are you so bent on catering to Maleficent now??"  
  
"She could take me away from you."  
  
Seven words dropped and stunned like a lead weight, turning the air thick and heavy as if a storm churned in the distance.  
  
"...You should know most of all that my mother has a flair for banishments, for dead-end ultimatums and life sentences. If she saw me turning soft, if she saw that  _you_  were the reason for it...then the next one trapped behind castle walls for a decade would be me. As long as she willed it, I'd never see you again."  
  
"Well that's hardly any different from how it is now, is it Mal?"  
  
Mal felt that like Evie had just reached out and physically struck her with it.  
  
"...Why did you have to  _lie_  to me?" Evie demanded, tears closer and closer to rolling down her cheeks. "I know what Maleficent is like, I know that you feel like you have no escape, but Mal, if you had just  _told_  me that this was something you had to do instead of leaving me sitting here thinking I was starting to lose you—"  
  
"This isn't a side of me that I'm proud of anymore," Mal wildly shook her head, pushing herself closer to Evie. "I didn't want you to know that I was out there stealing and fighting and ransacking! I don't want you to know that side of me!"  
  
"I already do," Evie firmly said. "She was the Mal I first met when Carlos asked her to show me around The Isle, she stole and fought and really wasn't nice, but I ended up loving her anyway."  
  
This time, Mal's shake of her head was slow and defeated, staring down at the floor and watching the shadow of herself move along with her.  
  
"That isn't the Mal you fell for. The Mal you fell for took you out for black coffee and protected your heart and made a home with you here in the hideout. Those two Mals couldn't be more different. But I want to be one, and mom wants me to be the other."  
  
Evie moved carefully and delicately as she slipped off the bed to sit in front of Mal on the floor, drawing her knees up and hugging them to her chest. Mal couldn't even look at her now, so ashamed of herself, ashamed at how she'd literally made Evie stoop to her level.  
  
"...Remember how you told me you didn't know who you were anymore?" Evie asked.  
  
Mal nodded once.  
  
"Of course. I still don't know."  
  
"But I told you that you didn't have to figure it out all at once."  
  
"...Yeah. You did," Mal recalled.  
  
Evie took a deep breath as she gathered all her thoughts.  
  
"...M, my mom is the Evil Queen. So believe me when I say I know what it's like to not feel okay with who you are. I know what it's like to want to change for someone else, because someone else says you should, and I know how painful it is to get tugged in two different directions at once."  
  
Mal also recalled night upon night of her and Evie sitting up in bed and simply talking; talking about themselves, talking about each other, talking about their pasts and their present and even occasionally, their future. She knew all about the Evil Queen's vain cruelty, and how Evie had suffered under it all her life.  
  
And for Evie to have still become the angelic queen of Mal's heart the way she did?  
  
"This is the Isle of the Lost," Evie went on. "We all need to do what we have to do to survive. Even you.  _Especially_  you. I’m not upset that you’ve been hanging out with Uma. I’m upset that you didn’t tell me about it. Doing whatever it takes to stay on your mother's good side is how you survive, I completely understand that. But Mal? ...All I ask is that we survive together. No more lies."  
  
Mal didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve Evie with her heart full of goodness and understanding. Mal lied to her, avoided her, cast her aside and away to play the rotten little daughter. She leaned forward and wiped Evie's tears away, her hand so gentle as it brushed across the soft face.  
  
"I missed you," Mal whispered.  
  
"...I missed you more."  
  
Mal hugged her fiercely in spite of her reservations, Evie feeling so much like the home Mal had never known.  
  
"M, it isn't easy being together, not here. But it's going to be worth it in the end."  
  
"How do you know that?" Mal pulled away to search for the answer on Evie's face.  
  
"Because I have faith. And trust. And maybe just a little bit of pixie dust."  
  
Mal laughed. Closed her eyes and leaned in to rest her head against Evie's.  
  
"Clearly I'm lost without you," she murmured.  
  
"Clearly," Evie agreed. "...So? Going to go back out and paint the town with Uma?"  
  
"...Actually, if she doesn't absolutely hate me by now, I'd love to finish out the night beside my girlfriend."  
  
Mal sat perfectly still as Evie tilted her head to kiss her, the two savoring the taste of one another like they'd been absolutely starved of it.  
  
"I could never hate you," Evie whispered before another kiss.  
  
With her own stash of pajamas hidden away for safekeeping at the hideout, Mal was all too happy to change and tuck herself next to Evie under the tattered covers of their bed before they turned out the lights.  
  
Mal was certain that she'd never known peace until she found it laying at Evie's side.  
  
And when morning broke, and what dim sunlight The Isle basked in roused Mal from her sleep, she rolled over to wake Evie with a kiss just like the fairytales of old.  
  
"...Morning, baby," Evie's sleepy smile and bleary eyes melted Mal's heart. "Sleep okay?"  
  
"You know I did," Mal absentmindedly pecked again and again at the corner of Evie's mouth.  
  
Evie stretched out, and Mal watched her every move with a smile.  
  
"...Mm, we have school today, don't we?" Evie wondered, her muddled mind still working out what day it was.  
  
"We do."  
  
"Gonna walk with me?"  
  
Another soft kiss gifted from Mal to Evie.  
  
"I'll meet you there. Have to make a pit stop at home to grab my stuff. As a matter of fact, I should probably head that way now."  
  
"But I'm so nice and warm with you here," Evie pouted, snuggling deeper under the covers.  
  
"Which is why we'll come right back to this tonight."  
  
"Promise?" Evie closed her eyes, falling back asleep.  
  
"Promise," Mal couldn't get enough morning kisses. "I love you, Evie."  
  
"Love you too, Mal."  
  
Mal figured that this was what floating on air felt like after she'd changed her clothes and started the walk back to Maleficent's castle. Only Evie could take Mal's heavy heart and lighten the load with just a smile, a single night together. Mal's head was back at the hideout with her, enjoying as much of the morning as they could before they really had to get up for school.  
  
When her feet walked her into the castle, her faraway mind was still in a blissful daze, not even realizing how Diablo was swooping ominously through the door behind her to fly into the castle and perch himself on the tip of Maleficent's staff.  
  
Maleficent, who was waiting right there in front of Mal, the menacing sight bringing her right back to reality.  
  
"...Mom?"  
  
Waiting. Watching. Hand idly stroking the raven while narrowed dragon eyes pierced the young villainess where she stood.  
  
"So, Mal...I hear you've got yourself a little girlfriend."


End file.
